Kevin Hart

So who is Ice Cube? He's a rapper, actor, macker, got a little problem with the redneck cracker. Though I'm having to take 'macker' on trust as I'm not entirely sure what it means, he certainly wears the first two hats. He's recorded three of the greatest hip-hop albums ever made, with whose uncompromising ghetto reportage I was able to identify closely growing up in Devon, and he can properly bloody act. Now he's produced and co-starred in buddy comedy Ride Along, which is a stone-cold smash US hit, and it's comin' to YO' hood. (That's the last time I'll try to talk street, I promise.)

You join me as I battle the triple threat of fatigue, hangover and a burgeoning cold in attempting to semi-satisfactorily review Grudge Match in the two hours I have before I collapse. This tight schedule is caused by a three-night midweek run in which I saw the film, then contributed drunkenly to Team Shiznit's glorious triumph at the Picturehouse Podcast Comedy Film Quiz, and now am attempting to write the review by the release date. Now, when a film is press-screened three days before it comes out, you fear the worst, but they needn't have worried: Grudge Match is pretty good fun when it bothers trying.

I've been putting off my review of The Five-Year Engagement for ages now, despite having written notes at the screening I attended about two weeks ago. Exhaustion is about to consume me, so instead of putting the review off for another day, I'm just going to forget about the in between parts and fancy words and cohesion that comes with a proper write-up and just let you read my raw notes. Think of it as an interesting case study. Or, like a massively lazy excuse for a post. Sorry. Normal service will resume soon. Most probably.

As sickening as it may sound, Eddie Murphy is officially the most successful movie star ever. With almost $3.5bn of box-office bounty to his name, Murphy tops cinema's all-time biggest earners league. How? A steady mixture of his raucous '80s output, no-holds barred stand-up routines and family friendly films of the '90s and bey...